Emaar Properties has unveiled what could be the world’s tallest tower. The $1bn Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour will be a “notch taller than Burj Khalifa”, though the official height was not revealed at the launch on Sunday.
The new building will face competition from the 1,000 metre high Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, currently under construction, for the ‘tallest in the world’ title, which will exceed the height of the Burj Khalifa (828m).
The Tower’s structure’s design was inspired the Islamic “minaret” structure as well as a lily bud. It will comprise of residential and leisure features including a 360 viewing deck ‘The Pinnacle Room’, and a VIP observation deck with landscaping meant to recreate the “splendour of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.”
It will also feature fully glazed rotating balconies that extend outward, rotating outside the skin of the tower, as well as a boutique hotel for visitors.
The Tower was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the man behind Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Tomorrow, Athens Olympic Sports Complex, and Malmö’s Turning Torso Tower.
The Tower will be part of the Dubai Creek Harbour, a 6 sq. km. development twice the size of Emaar’s Downtown Dubai. It is centred off the Dubai Creek, not too far from the Ras Al Khor National Wildlife Sanctuary, protected under the UNESCO Ramsar Convention and home to over 67 species of water birds.
Funding for the $1 billion project will be 50 percent equity and 50 percent debt. The Tower at Dubai Creek is expected to be completed for the Dubai Expo trade fair in 2020, the same year that the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah is due to be finished.
Calatrava was chosen by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, from an international design pitch for the new landmark.
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